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Source: Studia Universitatis Petru Maior. Historia

Studia Universitatis Petru Maior - History

Location: Romania
Author(s): Gherghina Boda
Title: "La Roumanie Newspaper on the Romanian War Prisoners (1918-1919)
"La Roumanie Newspaper on the Romanian War Prisoners (1918-1919)
Issue: 1/2015
Citation Gherghina Boda. ""La Roumanie Newspaper on the Romanian War Prisoners (1918-1919)".
style: Studia Universitatis Petru Maior. Historia 1:55-60.

https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=416990
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LA ROUMANIE NEWSPAPER ON THE ROMANIAN WAR

PRISONERS (1918-1919)

Gherghina Boda

Abstract

Starting with 1918, Paris becomes the center of Romanian propaganda abroad
and the La Roumanie newspaper becomes the speaker for the Romanian interests.
In the pages of this daily were reflected the suffering of Romanian war prisoners
confined to prison camps. There are numerous testimonies proving cruel fate of those
unfortunates who were abused both physically and mentally, despite international
laws that compel the warring States to apply human treatments of prisoners of war.

Keywords: War; Camps; Prisoners of War; Violence; Suffering.

During its development, human society has experienced many

conflicts, more or less violent, triggered for various reasons, but which
reflect the bellicose side of human nature, the dark side of human relations
and the practice of some communities, which based on strength have won
and subjugated other communities. With time, means and forms of struggle
have improved, with more and more victims and more serious abuses.
Human cruelty could manifest itself in all its plenitude in times of war,
when humanity seemed to have perished under the rule of hatred and
violence against others.
World War One, the conflagration that drew in the battles carousel
several countries, fully proved this dark side of man who showed the
supremacy of victory through violence and exceptional cruelty for others. In
order to counter violent practices, some countries of the world have
concluded various conventions on the conduct of war, the most important
being the Geneva and Hague treaties: the Geneva Conventions of 1863
which have laid the foundations of international humanitarian law; The
Geneva Conventions of 1864 and 1906 regarding the improvement of the
situation of wounded soldiers in armed conflicts; Convention on the
outbreak of hostilities / Third Hague Convention (The Hague, 18 October
1907); Convention on the Laws and Customs of War on Land / Fourth
Hague Convention (The Hague, 18 October 1907); Annex to the Fourth
Hague Convention of 1907: Regulation respecting the laws and customs of
war on land (The Hague, 18 October 1907). Although there was already an
international law relating to armed conflict, few countries followed it. The
most telling example of these violations is the establishment of camps for
prisoners of war and their inhuman treatment. During and especially after
the war, countless testimonies of witnesses and information passed beyond
the fences of these camps, terrifying the civilian population with the horrors
that took place there.
Many newspapers of the time brought to public attention abominable
acts that happened in the perimeter of POW camps of all nationalities. One

Scientific Researcher III, PhD., Deva Museum of Dacian and Roman Civilization,
Romania

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Gherghina Boda

of the publications that presented information about Romanian prisoners

was the Parisian newspaper La Roumanie in which we find illustrated
fragments from the Romanian reality of the years 1918-1919, information
about military and political actions involving Romanians, regardless of
province, all the struggles and sufferings of the Romanian people during
wartime, drama filled years and the human and material sacrifices of those
times. Military life on the front and the situation of prisoners of war
stationed in various camps is undeniable proof of those troubled times in
which human quality suffered a serious decrease, violence in these death
camps being raised to the rank of law, and the preservation of human
dignity considered a luxury.
The newspaper La Roumanie presents a series of articles on the
situation of the Romanian military prison camps in Germany and France.
Even if the items do not nominate these unfortunate prisoners of war, but
presents them collectively, remaining anonymous amongst many others, we
must not forget a single moment that they are the HEROES who made
possible the completion of Romania and that their actions must remain
registered in history in golden letters as sacrifices and sufferings led to the
building of modern Romania.
Reading these articles lead to the conclusion that life in the French
camp was incomparably better and more humane than in the German one,
of course taking account the realities of the war.
An article from December 2nd 1918 1 records the really disastrous
situation in Romania later this year and sufferings of the Romanian
population, both moral and material ones. The article refers to the situation
of Romanian prisoners in German concentration camps, a situation
described in the book of French Go Andr entitled Ma captivite en
Allemagne, where, among the many information about the war and about
the life of prisoners in German camps, he refers to the Romanians living
there in captivity. He, like many others, describes the horrors of the German
concentration camps, saying they are worthy of Dante's Inferno. In his book
he tells of bringing a convoy of Romanian prisoners in the camp: These
Romanian peasants who were strong men, had become genuine skeletons,
their bones are held only by skin. They arrived in a state of exhaustion and
to keep on their feet they had to support one another. They were advancing
in a compact block and an oscillating column. The suffering in their eyes
was heartbreaking, terrible ...2 The article, based on information from the
book tells about the terrible condition they were found in. They were
exhausted by hunger and cold, but their suffering did not impress the
German soldiers who with fiendish joy, hot them with a cane in the kidney
or punched them in the face until they felt to their knees, still hitting them
to get back up. Much of these unfortunates died, they died even two months
after entering the camp because of the privations of all sorts and ill-
treatment. Due to malnutrition, those who ate greedily the miserable food
died of indigestion. Lack of food had so much diminished their human

1 Le sort des prisonniers roumains en Allemagne, in La Roumanie, no. 48, 1918, p.

4.
2 Ibidem.

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La Roumanie Newspaper in the Romanian War Prisoners (1918-1919)

qualities that often they were seen throwing themselves on heaps of trash,
devouring directly from the earth the household garbage.3
The author also tells of a dramatic incident that could attest, once
again, the animalistic cruelty and brutality of German soldiers for abusing
prisoners of war. Indignant and impressed by the dismal performance which
was offered by the plaintive convoy, one of the French prisoners sought
some bread to give to a few hungry Romanians. Seeing this, a German
officer slapped him, but the Frenchman, listening only to his rebellion,
retaliated and administered an exemplary correction to the officer.
Unfortunately, offenses against the German was not been forgotten and after
a month the imprudent French prisoner was shot.4
This article, and not only, emphasizes that of all prisoners the
Romanians enjoyed the most cruel treatment.
It is a proven fact that common sufferings creates a state of extremely
lasting solidarity that goes beyond race, country, religion, political affiliation,
etc. Such solidarity was born in the German death camps. Andr G. tells
how the other prisoners in the camp were making collections of food for the
Romanians, renouncing their daily rations, despite all the punishment
received. Even more, defying danger and putting their lives in peril, some
were even killed by guards because every night they were trying to climb the
fence of barbed wire which separated them from a food warehouse, to steal
biscuits for the starved Romanians.5
Other disturbing testimonies about life in the German camps came
from George Mironescu who signed an article on April 10th 1919. It was
widely recognized that of all allied prisoners of war who were suffering
together with Romanian prisoners, the latter were the most abused. This
claim was supported by the particularly high mortality of Romanian
prisoners, varying between 60% and 90%.6 In these camps died countless
Romanians, the real number being known only to the Germans which are
very scrupulous about statistics, but have avoided all the time to send the
Romanians, and not only, complete lists of prisoners in their war camps.
In the fight against the atrocities committed by Germans special merit
went to the Romanian section of the Association Garment of the prisoner of
war in Paris, which conducted extensive work on behalf of Romanian
prisoners of war and, among others, drew attention to the fact that in
September of 1919, the Germans had hidden some 15,000 Romanian
prisoners they used for different works in the combat zone, violating all
international provisions of war agreements.7
Due to numerous testimonies and information received about camps
in Germany, it was decided to constitute a committee with the task of
checking them. Here are some of the testimonies received: some parish of
Ernolsheim (Alsace), called Garnier, communicating the list of Romanian
soldiers who died in the camp in Bleiche, located near the village of

3 Ibidem.
4 Ibidem.
5 Ibidem.
6 George Mironescu, Le traitement des prisonniers roumains en Allemagne, in La

Roumanie, no. 65, 1919, p. 1.

7 Ibidem.

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Ernolsheim adds that Seven of these poor soldiers are dead sure as a
consequence of physical weakness, lack of food, being buried by me. 8
Another pastor, Charles Hug in Lautenbach, also in Alsace, communicated
that the poor Romanians cemetery is at the forest edge. We know that all
poor Romanians are starving. We cannot help them. They are still
mistreated. Roesch the forester can indicate the name of the executioners of
your unfortunate comrades.9 Another witness of the abuse and cruelty of
the German military is a plant manager in Keskastel (Alsace), Albert Lemlyn,
who wrote that on March 17, 1919, in an outbuilding of the plant was
brought a convoy of 250 Romanian prisoners. Of these, 40 died within a few
days, and 93 were transferred to Sarrebourg in a deplorable state. 10
Regarding the cause of death, A. Lemlyn states that these unfortunate
prisoners were eating rotten beetroot thrown into landfills by peasants or
gathering nettles sprouts so as not to starve, causing numerous deaths from
this altered food, plus the German brutality with which they were applied
countless blows with truncheons or rifle butts, a treatment which was very
ordinary, entering into the daily ritual. He gives inscriptions of 17 graves
containing the remains of those poor martyrs, inscriptions which did not
give the name, but were worded as follows: Hier rhen 6 Rumnen, Mrz
1917 - hier rhen 2 Rumnen April 191711 etc. (6 Romanians rest here, in
March 1917 - Here lie two Romanians, April 1917). A. Lemlyn also reports
that a certain lady Fenerstorf, sickened by the vile treatment applied to
these prisoners, tried to help them by anonymously blackmailing the
military personnel responsible for these atrocities. Unfortunately, this lady
was discovered and prosecuted for insults against an officer, but the
testimonies of witnesses brought in her defence were so overwhelming for
the military caste, that they were forced to cover up this affair. A. Lemlyn
even gives instructions needed to find the file in question.
Other testimonies about the fate of Romanian prisoners are given to
us by four officials of the Alsatian railway, Jacques Weiss, Jean
Weisenburger, Alfred Brignon and Joseph Romens. 12 They recount what
happened around the middle of January 1917 when the first trains from the
Rhine arrived in the station yard at Hansberger (near Strasbourg). These
death trains were filled with Romanian prisoners starving, thirsty and
almost frozen. Many were already dead on the road, while others were in
agony. Some further 6 trains also followed in the same deplorable condition
and were headed in the same direction. By the middle of February came
another train, around 4.00 to 5.00 am, with some 600 prisoners.13
The cries and moans of these poor people were heard outside.
Impressed by the suffering that shone from inside the wagon, station
officials asked guards to open wagons, but they refused for fear of
punishment coming from the German officers. It was only at around 9.00

8 Ibidem.
9 Ibidem.
10 Ibidem.
11 George Mironescu, Le traitement des prisonniers roumains en Allemagne, in La

Roumanie, no. 65, 1919, p. 1.

12 Ibidem.
13 Ibidem.

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La Roumanie Newspaper in the Romanian War Prisoners (1918-1919)

the prisoners were let out of cars. This was one gruesome spectacle: many
came out like shakily, weak ghosts, heading towards neighbouring fields to
search for grass to quench their hunger. By 10:00 they were gathered
together with baton blows to receive an awful tin of soup and 50 grams of
bread. Those who because of physical infirmity remained in the wagons did
not receive their portion of food being left to die of starvation. Towards noon
dead prisoners were removed from wagons. 11 dead bodies and about 70
people who were in agony were taken out. All were deposited on the frozen
ground. At about 14.00, those who could not walk any more were forced to
climb into the wagons. Then there was a heartbreaking incident: a poor
prisoner dared to take another sip of the soup, which prompted a German
soldier to give him a stick in the head, kneeling him.
Noteworthy is the fact that the civilian population of Germany totally
disapproved of these abominations of the German army bringing, not once,
testimonies of the unparalleled atrocity of it and constituting itself often as
the accuser.
These are just some of the testimonies who came to confirm the
terrible torture applied to prisoners of war and the ferocious bestiality of the
German military. These facts of the German army will remain forever in the
people's consciousness as a great shame, as an indelible stain on the face of
humanity. The duty that all peoples of the world have in front of humanity is
to succeed and to not let such crimes happen, punishing as much as
possible these nameless acts of ferocity. Although international law has
experienced a great development and its arrangements have been more
numerous and more explicit and states that joined them have increased
after every international conference, the provisions contained in such acts
are still infringed by some belligerent parts. This demonstrates once again
that the violence in human nature is stronger than reason.

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REFERENCES

Vyvyen Brendon, Primul Rzboi Mondial 1914-1918, Bucureti, Ed. All,

2003.
Rudolf Dinu, Ion Bulei, Romnia n Primul Rzboi Mondial. La Romania nella
Grande Guerra 1914-1918, Bucureti, Ed. Militar, 2006.
Jean-Michel Gaillard, Anthony Rowley, Istoria continentului european. De la
1850 pn la sfritul secolului al XX-lea, Bucureti, Ed. Cartier, 2001.
Pierre Renouvin, Primul Rzboi Mondial, Bucureti, Ed. Corint, 2001.
Mihi Enache, Prizonieri romni n lagrele germane n anii Primului Rzboi
Mondial, n Descoper istoria, No. 4/January-March, 2014, pp. 25-36.
Le sort des prisonniers roumains en Allemagne, in La Roumanie, no. 48,
1918, p. 4.
George Mironescu, Le traitement des prisonniers roumains en Allemagne, in
La Roumanie, no. 65, 1919, p. 1.

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